Chapter 460: Past (2)
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Years passed, five turning into ten, then stretching to twenty…
The heir of the Marquis Mansion remained conspicuously absent from the capital, and there was still no information about his whereabouts.
Fewer and fewer people paid any heed to this matter, eventually consigning it to oblivion.
The Old Marquis’s remorse deepened with each passing day.
He regretted his past indifference towards his eldest son. When his son had raised concerns about the cause of his mother’s death, he shouldn’t have angrily scolded him for causing trouble but rather explained the situation patiently.
His regret was compounded by the realization that his offspring from his lawful wife were far from admirable.
Their primary shortcoming was their mediocre abilities, coupled with arrogance and a lack of awareness of the world’s vastness.
One reason was their parents’ indulgence. The other reason lay in their maternal family’s excessive pampering, as they had perpetually relied on the Marquis Mansion for support. Consequently, they catered to the Marquis Mansion’s young masters and fawned upon them tirelessly.
However, as they grew older, they recognized their inability to assimilate into the circle of aristocratic young masters. Due to their mother’s concubine status, the Imperial Court did not officially acknowledge them, deeming them the offspring of concubines.
They weren’t even qualified to compete for the position of heir.
Among the capital’s aristocratic young masters, concubine-born sons and daughters were the most derided, unless they possessed remarkable abilities or earned recognition through the imperial examination.
Observing the imminent extinction of the Marquis Mansion’s hereditary title within his generation, the Old Marquis expended considerable efforts and dispatched individuals far and wide to locate his eldest son.
What unfolded next was something the Old Marquis had never anticipated.
Little did he anticipate that his amiable equal life was secretly dispatching agents to locate his eldest son. However, her intentions were starkly at odds with those of the Old Marquis.
Her aim was to sabotage Su Bin, the most capable of the lot, and obliterate his prospects. She intended to strip him of his qualifications as the heir to the Marquis Mansion.
Once Su Bin was ruined, she would undoubtedly turn her attention to his brothers next.
Under these circumstances, the Old Marquis faced limited options. To safeguard the Marquis Mansion’s hereditary title, he might be compelled to utilize the ancestral death-exemption medal for an heir status from the emperor.
Upon her son’s appointment as the heir and the Marquis, she would be elevated to the rank of a noblewoman.
Those aristocratic ladies who had formerly looked down on her would then scramble to curry favor with her.
Indeed, the Marquis Mansion held considerable wealth, and the annual allocation from the Imperial Court was substantial.
However, she might be unaware that the Old Marquis had no intention of exchanging the death-exemption medal for an heir position. He was fully aware that the emperor would never grant it to him, even if he were willing to part with it. The Emperor eagerly awaited the Marquis Mansion’s demise, anticipating its descent into a state without a successor or Marquis. This would relieve the Imperial Court of a substantial financial burden.
If he were to trade the death-exemption medal, would he not court immediate demise if the emperor later found him guilty? Moreover, his ancestors had risked their lives to secure the death-exemption medal, a cherished family heirloom. Exchanging it would invite ridicule.
Consequently, the Old Marquis resolved to spend a significant sum of money to locate Su Bin and the others. Upon discovering their whereabouts, he realized how profoundly he had misjudged his equal life. He had long regarded her as kind and empathetic, incapable of harming anyone.
Confronted with the undeniable reality, he could no longer delude himself into believing in her inherent kindness or her reluctance to harm him and his family. The Old Marquis seethed with anger, yet he lacked the resolve to probe the truth at that time..